On the cutting edge of management and self-improvement, the authors--co-founders of Coaching.com--place the benefits of the New Coaching Phenomenon onto the printed page in a way that is doable and useful.

Foreword by Ken Blanchard	ix
Introduction	xiii
CHAPTER ONE: Welcome to Coaching	1	(17)
CHAPTER TWO: The Distance Between Two Points	18	(19)
CHAPTER THREE: Three Perspectives	37	(22)
CHAPTER FOUR: Master Your Universe	59	(19)
CHAPTER FIVE: Manage Your Gifts	78	(21)
CHAPTER SIX: Get Your Needs Met	99	(23)
CHAPTER SEVEN: Cherish and Protect Your Valuables	122	(24)
CHAPTER EIGHT: Name and Claim Your Standards	146	(24)
CHAPTER NINE: Draw and Defend Your Boundaries	170	(30)
CHAPTER TEN: Eliminate Your Tolerations	200	(23)
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Almost Perfect	223	(2)
Acknowledgments	225	(4)
Further Reading	229	(4)
On Becoming a Coach	233	(2)
Services Available	235	(2)
About the Authors	237

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Leverage Your Best, Ditch the Rest
The Coaching Secrets Top Executives Depend On

Chapter One

Welcome to Coaching

What can coaching
really do for you?

Snapshot:
"Things are good ... Well, they could be better ... Actually,I'm really fed up, and I'm thinking of quitting my job. I'mchopping away here, and there are no chips flying."

John, a production manager for a software company, is speaking onthe phone to his new coach. He runs his hands through his sandy blondhair, noticing again how much less of it he has now than he used to have.He smiles ruefully at his vanity, at how it pops up at the oddest moments.When he was in grad school, he just hadn't imagined that somedayhe'd be sitting at an overcrowded desk feeling like he'd somehow missed atrain.

He isn't quite sure what he signed up for with coaching, but he figuresat this point he has nothing to lose.

"I had six meetings yesterday, and I walked away from each one with somuch work I don't even know what hit me. I'm working late every night, mywife seems permanently angry with me, I feel like I haven't seen our kids inweeks, and the best people on my team are all about to quit because theworkload just isn't easing up -- it's getting worse."

"Wow," says his coach, "that sounds tough."

"Yeah," John says, "and what really burns me is that I seem to be complainingabout the same things over and over again, and I just don't seemto be able to fix anything."

"Okay," the coach launches in. "Let's tackle this and see if we can'tmake some changes so that at least you can move on to some new problems."

John laughs and sighs. "Well, that would be a relief."

"Let's take a look at the whole picture. At how you're functioning inyour work, personal and family life, and all parts of your life. We'll establishexactly where you are right now and where you truly want to be.

"I'll help you look through some different lenses so you have plenty ofnew perspectives. Once you can see your life more clearly I'll help you leveragesome things and let a few things go and ultimately help you decidewhat actions you can take that will permanently eliminate reoccurringfrustrations."

John likes what his coach is saying but still has some real doubtsabout getting this kind of help. He's never seen himself as someone whoneeded help. As far back as he can remember, he was a golden boy on andoff the basketball court. He was always the guy people came to for advice.Why can't he do this by himself?

"Can you really do that for me?" John asks, excited but dubious.

"You're going to do it, John, not me, but I will show you some principlesand a fail-safe process that will help guide you," says the coach. "Plus, I'lllisten and nudge you toward what you say you want. I'll remind you of themany things you do that are working, and I'll keep your eye on the ball. Howdoes that sound?"

A moment passes before John takes in a deep breath and says,"Good. Let's do it."

Get A Coach in a Book?

Sound good? To see yourself objectively, to cut through the layersof accumulated mental detritus, to make clear-headed choices,and to take effective action toward creating a life that works beautifully?Whenever we describe what coaching can do for people, theinevitable response is "I want a coach!" Who wouldn't? When someoneworks with a good coach, they are making an investment inthemselves like they are a hot new stock, and it causes them to takeoff like a rocket toward the destination of their choice. This book isour way of offering you the coaching process and the best coachingtools available.

Replicating the coaching experience in a book is fiendishly difficult because the perception is that the power of coaching comes froma relationship. While this is partially true, the most relevant relationshipcoaching addresses is the one you have with yourself. Ascoaches, we do a number of things with all our clients. We create anenvironment in which people feel safe and will grow. Then we use aprocess -- a set of principles and a framework -- that is easily repeated.Long after we have stopped working together clients oftensay, "I still hear your voice in my head." But we know that it isn't thecoach's voice they are hearing -- it's their own. Their own voice isnow informed by a framework and a set of principles that helpedthem to gain clarity. Coaching helps people have better conversationswith themselves; it helps people make better decisions aboutwhat is best for them on a minute-by-minute basis. Great coachesdon't tell people what to do; they help people build their own personalizedsystem to figure it out for themselves. This book can helpyou find a new mental framework and operating system. Call it newinternal software, if you like.

What Is Coaching?

Coaching is a big, broad term that has heretofore meant a bus (ameans of conveying people to and fro) or a professional who assistsothers in the area of sports and other skills. Confusion abounds.Today a business coach can be anything from a Ph.D. in organizationalpsychology to an entrepreneurial fast talker. Frederic M.Hudson, Ph.D., founder of The Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara,one of the most respected coach training programs, came up with awonderful way to describe what coaching does for people in hisbook, The Handbook of Coaching:

If individual adults can develop dependable radar systems for guidingthemselves in and out of the never-ending maze of daily life, they cansustain confidence, self-esteem and hope ...Leverage Your Best, Ditch the Rest
The Coaching Secrets Top Executives Depend On. Copyright © by Scott Blanchard. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Excerpted from Leverage Your Best Ditch the Rest: The Coaching Secrets Top Executives Depend On by Scott B. Blanchard, Madeleine Homan
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.